


how does a superhero love?

by fefedove



Category: Chinese Actor RPF, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Attempt at Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27186166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fefedove/pseuds/fefedove
Summary: Xiao Zhan just wants to chill with his cat and human boyfriend, but he happens to be a mutant with a superpower.
Relationships: Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan | Sean
Comments: 33
Kudos: 162
Collections: BJYX Remix Exchange 2020





	how does a superhero love?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kidhuzural](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kidhuzural/gifts).



> Remix of [On Your Side](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24425656) by Kidhuzural
> 
> you have a lot of porn without plot, so i decided to write a plot without porn. this au is really intriguing, but i changed the characterization a bit, so i hope you like it !

Xiao Zhan wakes to all his sensory nerves screaming “PAIN”, but what his groggy mind registers first is that something is missing. He feels empty.

Taking a deep breath, he opens his eyes. A single naked lightbulb hanging from the ceiling comes into view. He’s in a dark, dingy cellar of sorts.

 _Cliché_ , he thinks.

He tries moving.

The pain from earlier has died down to an ache gnawing on the edge of his sanity, but at the slightest movement, new pain shoots out.

He feels slim metal bands around his wrists, keeping him tethered to the wall and—

_Oh, that’s what’s wrong._

The omnipresent super-energy that should be coursing through his veins is silent. Supersonic waves radiating from the bands press down on his power, turning it into a pool of flat, dead water in the bottom of his gut.

He sighs.

Well, that would explain a lot. No wonder the injuries aren’t healing by themselves, no wonder he can’t feel the constant buzz of water around him. No wonder he feels so weak and empty.

Resting his head back against the concrete wall, he closes his eyes again.

Xiao Zhan isn’t your typical superhero.

His superpower is the ability to control water. This means that he can control 71% of the planet and up to 60% of all humans. He can mummify someone with his mind, drown their lungs, burst their veins, make someone swell and explode and more. If he’s feeling nice, he can create purified water sources, end droughts, end floods, and maybe even stop global warming.

But he only uses his power to create the perfect bubble tea and other delicious things.

When he’s not willing molecules of hydrogen and oxygen to cooperate and make tasty dishes, he spends his time with his cat and boyfriend. (A regular human boyfriend with no knowledge of why their house plants never need watering or why their water bills are so impossibly low, mind you.)

Alas, there are some people in this world who use their powers for things other than trying to take over the world through culinary delight.

Sometimes, Xiao Zhan slips out in the dead of the night (stealthily untangling himself from his boyfriend’s lanky limbs) to fight villains in the city. Sometimes, he gets there and the villain has already been taken care of by human vigilantes.

(The city’s villain-fighting system isn’t the most organized or efficient. A lot of logistics problems and shit.)

There’s one vigilante who always seems to get the same mission assigned to him.

But as the saying goes, _bu da bu xiang shi_. You would only get to know one another after a fight.

So, after Xiao Zhan finally snaps one night and demands to know why this guy was always trying to steal his accomplishments, they have a scuffle. And Xiao Zhan realizes that this human with his gadgets was actually…quite smart, skilled, and they could…work together?

The human goes by “Dark Tracer” and, true to the name, he zooms through the city on a sleek motorcycle, clad in all black, face hidden by a helmet.

On the other hand, Xiao Zhan introduces himself as the Water Master and the Dark Tracer laughs, but he doesn’t really care. He’d come up with this name when he’d discovered his power in middle school. He still thinks it’s a cool name.

Anyway, flash forward some weeks and they become partners in crime (or, rather, partners in fighting crime.)

Flash forward some months and Xiao Zhan suffers a surprise attack by a villain with the oh- _so_ -ominous name, Explosion. And now, he’s just a damsel in distress, chained to the wall of some random underground parking garage.

He wakes again to a drop of liquid fire splashing onto him. It’s the familiar feeling of water but in a burning form and his own disconnect to the element now that makes his eyes fly open.

Explosion’s ugly face fills his vision.

He wants to close his eyes again, but Explosion gets close. He grips Xiao Zhan’s chin, forcing him to look up.

“Pretty,” Explosion leers.

Xiao Zhan doesn’t have the energy to break free from the burning grip, but he manages a smile. “Thanks.”

Explosion scoffs and lets go after slamming Xiao Zhan’s head against the wall. Through the ringing in his ears, Xiao Zhan hears, “But I wonder if your boyfriend will still be able to recognize you when he comes to save his princess.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Heise Zuizhongzhe,” Explosion spits, relishing and grinding out each syllable as you would the name of your nemesis.

Xiao Zhan squints. “Uh…you mean ‘Heise Zhuizongzhe’?” he asks, emphasizing the last three syllables. Watching the villain’s expression falter, he continues, “If you can’t pronounce his name correctly, you can just call him the Dark Tracer.” He smiles. “It’s okay. That’s why we have English na—”

Fire flares out of nowhere and his skin blisters immediately.

Okay… Maybe being a smartass and making witty comments isn’t the best way to buy time in this situation. But the excruciating pain is fucking up his brain and—

What Explosion just said finally registers in his mind.

“Wait,” he sputters. “The Dark Tracer isn’t my boyfriend.”

Explosion crosses his arms and stares. He looks like the perfect ugly antagonist, face orange and greasy from the flames, features twisted and caught between a smirk and smile. “Really.”

“We’re colleagues,” Xiao Zhan answers conversationally. “We work together to take down people like you, y’know.”

A new, blunt pain tells him that he’s said the wrong thing again. Xiao Zhan shakes his head a little, trying to make the world stop spinning.

“Yes, that is _exactly_ it!” Explosion growls. “You!” He jabs a finger into Xiao Zhan’s chest. “It’s people like you that make those measly _humans_ think they’re so powerful! You’re why humans think they can rule over _us_ , when _we_ are the ones with superpowers!”

Explosion spins dramatically (quite gracefully, Xiao Zhan admits), raises his arms, and a car or something explodes. The smell of burning rubber fills the space. He turns back at Xiao Zhan.

“You stand with humans and kill your own kind. And for what? Human justice and human morals? They’re just brainwashing people like you, like us, to kneel under them! Why do they say I’m the bad guy? Because I kill people? No, it’s because I’m powerful, but I won’t listen to them! They’re scared because they’re fucking weak!”

This hunky, greasy guy is sounding surprisingly intelligent. Xiao Zhan is almost won over. (He’d probably be more won over if he wasn’t chained to a wall and dying slowly.)

Explosion walks back to Xiao Zhan. “Join me,” he says in a low voice. “Fire and water, no one can stop us. We can rule the world together.”

A pregnant pause.

Xiao Zhan stares.

The only sound is the crackling of flames.

Then he blinks and then, “But I already have a boyfriend.”

Explosion lets out a noise like a pig getting butchered. He slams his fist into the wall next to Xiao Zhan’s face. If Xiao Zhan’s ears weren’t already ringing from the previous blow, the vibrations now would definitely give him the same effect.

The punch seems to calm him down though.

Explosion straightens and takes a deep breath. “When the Dark Tracer comes to save you, it’ll be the time he dies.”

“So, I’m just the bait?”

The villain grins, baring his yellow teeth. “The prettiest.”

Xiao Zhan spits and phlegmy blood lands near Explosion’s foot.

“Anyway, I’m sure he’ll come save you. That motherfucker has nothing but his little human trinkets, but he thinks he’s a superhero.”

“Hell yeah, I am.”

Light travels faster than sound.

By the time that utterance is heard, Xiao Zhan has already watched a black vehicle zoom out of nowhere and send Explosion flying into the air and crashing back down.

The motorcycle screeches to a halt. Xiao Zhan’s delirious mind finally processes that _oh,_ he—the damsel in distress—is apparently getting saved with all the dramatics that he deserves.

Explosion is probably a tad more shocked than him.

But before he can react, the Dark Tracer is already shackling his wrists with the same bands on Xiao Zhan’s. The Dark Tracer leaves no time for bullshit, no chances for the villain to catch him off-guard and distracted in the middle of conversation—one of the reasons why the Dark Tracer is as successful as he is.

(And precisely why Explosion ends up looking like a pig tied above a campfire.)

After Explosion is nice and restrained, with his powers repressed, the Dark Tracer stands up and finally starts the expected protagonist monologue.

But he doesn’t go according to the script.

“My little human trinkets are great, don’t you think?” His voice comes out of the voice changer. “But I can’t believe you used _my_ invention to torture _my_ boyfriend.”

“Your invention?”

“Your boyfriend?”

The Dark Tracer cocks his head. “My invention,” he repeats to Explosion, nudging the metal bands with his toe. Then he walks over to Xiao Zhan. “My boyfriend.”

Xiao Zhan may be flickering in and out of consciousness, but even as the Dark Tracer unchains him and he falls limply into the human’s arms, he still manages to say, “Thanks but… You’re not my boyfriend.”

The Dark Tracer doesn’t reply. He sits onto the ground, holding Xiao Zhan in his lap, and gently massages his wrists.

Closing his eyes, Xiao Zhan feels his super-energy coming back to life. It’ll take some time to heal completely, but the energy circulates through his veins, taking away the pain. His connection with the water molecules in the air rushes back with a welcome buzz.

With the power supply replenished, his system tells him he needs to sleep, but he forces himself to stay awake. What kind of superhero dozes off when there’s still a villain to take care of?

Xiao Zhan opens his eyes.

Just in time to see the Dark Tracer take his helmet off. With all the cinematic suspense in the world.

He seems to move in slow motion. He tilts his head back, baring his slender neck, his Adam’s apple creating an intriguing silhouette against the light from the dingy bulb. He seems to glow with a halo; light splashes against him, illuminating his features just the right way. He runs a hand through his hair, shaking it casually, boyishly, infuriatingly sexily, before looking down at Xiao Zhan.

Xiao Zhan, who is staring up at him, dumbfounded.

“Y-Yibo?”

The man in question dips down and steals a kiss. “Surprise?” he asks with an abashed smile. 

Even though Xiao Zhan isn’t wrought with pain anymore, his poor brain is still unable to process development.

The Dark Tracer—Yibo—pushes Xiao Zhan’s bloodied fringe out of his eyes. Many of the injuries have healed already, but he’s still a canvas of angry wounds.

“I've always known,” he admits. “But you tried so hard not to let me find out. I knew you were probably scared that I would judge you for being a mutant, or that you just wanted a normal life, so I didn’t say anything. I wanted to wait until you were comfortable enough to tell me.”

“Yibo…” Xiao Zhan opens his mouth to speak, but his body decides at that moment to crash. His head lolls and Yibo quickly pulls him to rest against his chest.

Then a muttered curse at their PDA reminds him of the villain tied up behind him.

Scooping Xiao Zhan up, he walks back to his motorcycle. He puts helmets on both of them (safety first, safety second, hot superhero boyfriends third) and positions Xiao Zhan on the seat. He slings a leg across, settling in behind, and reaches over, wrapping his arms around Xiao Zhan.

“You two are fucking disgusting!” Explosion screeches.

Yibo revs up the engine in response and runs over Explosion. The screams die mid-sentence, cut off by a nice crunch. Explosion loses consciousness, but not before he realizes the irony of getting crushed by a human and his trinket.

“Where are we going?” Xiao Zhan murmurs sleepily. He can feel Yibo’s heart beating through his back, and his own, steadily gaining strength.

“Home.”


End file.
